As children of one generation start having kids of their own, toy makers often re-release vintage toys to capitalize on nostalgia.

That's why, in the past few years, we've seen the return of a number of popular characters from the 1980s. Which brings us to tonight's number: 1987.

That was the year that the TV show "My Little Pony n' Friends" went off the air. Almost 25 years ago.

But the ponies are back.

The second season of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" just aired on the TV network THE HUB. The main character is Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn pony sent to the town of Ponyville to study the magic of friendship. It is VERY popular.

Last weekend more than 4,000 fans of the show gathered for a My Little Pony convention. It was a huge event with panels, galleries and a giant merchandise area.

AND the most unusual part - most of the attendees were male. It's true. One of the fastest-growing segments of the My Little Pony audience is actually men. They call themselves BRONIES. As in BROS who like PONIES.

And they love the new My Little Pony show. This weekend, at BRONYCON – for brony convention, of course – we spotted them buying pony art and wearing pony costumes.

It was a diverse group. One guy told us he was in the Navy, another came from Canada, one guy hopes to write for television. We asked why they love My Little Pony. Almost every one of them said, "I love the stories". Stories like the time Applejack tried to tackle the entire harvest alone.

And sure, we know some of you are saying, "Guys who like My Little Pony?" Yeah. They do. And we celebrate people who have enthusiasm and passion for something.

Nope, I'm a girl and I'm a brony, too. The term pegasister is a fairly recent development, and personally I don't see the need for it as it sort of says, "Well yeah, guys are the original bronies, and girls can be... something else." I was a brony long before I even knew what a brony was, so the term has sort of stuck with me. I suppose girls can be pegasisters if they like, but I'll personally always prefer to be called a brony.

My daughters, aged 22 and 15, are both Bronies. I do not have an issue at all with it. It is something that has brought two normally squabbling siblings together, and that is never a bad thing. They speak in almost a code about Bro-hoofs and telling me something is "20% cooler" for some reason or another and I love it.
It is nice to see CNN doing an article on something like this that doesn't bring out the nasty garbage that it otherwise might.

I have seen the show and don't understand the extreme level of fandom it has, but I don't hate on the fans for having said fandom. I guess it might come from the fact that there is very little on TV these days with silly cartoon humor and decent writing, plus from what I saw, it also throws in a good amount of cultural references here and there if you have a sharp eye (I recall an episode with a bowling alley that had pony versions of the crew from the Big Lebowski in it for example)

It is good that a news source isn't trying to paint the fans as degenerates and pedophiles as I have seen done in the past through other outlets before.

Erin thank you SO much for this segment! I've been waiting forever to see MLP make it to CNN. I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. I'm so glad you welcomed us with open hooves before Anderson would try to put us on the Ridiculist or something. Love the show, thanks again. Welcome to the herd.

Haha. Yes, we bronies are all about fun, creativity and before everything: friendship. It's great to finally see a professional media report that does not attempt to fit us into some strange convention :)

This seriously put a smile on my face. It makes me so happy to see a news segment not demoralizing us Bronies. Thank you for being so open minded and accepting, Erin! I think I speak for the entire Brony community when I say you did a wonderful job explaining our fandom to the public. (:

Thank you. That was a very generous article for the brony community. It really means a lot to me that somewone would be as open-minded as you guys. As a brony, I definetely speak for the entire fanbase when I say that you guy's have won my honest respect.

I'm very happy that CNN decided to report on this in the way news networks should, unlike a certain other network which, in the words of John de Lancie, doesn't deserve to be called a news network and is destroying truth in America. Let's stomp out the bigotry displayed by Fox.

Nope, I'm a girl and I'm a brony, too. The term pegasister is a fairly recent development, and personally I don't see the need for it as it sort of says, "Well yeah, guys are the original bronies, and girls can be... something else." I was a brony long before I even knew what a brony was, so the term has sort of stuck with me. I suppose girls can be pegasisters if they like, but I'll personally always prefer to be called a brony.

Some girls prefer the term pegasister, a lot of others prefer to be counted as bronies, just like their male counterparts. I generally stay on the safe side and refer to both genders as bronies, and call someone a pegasister if they express a preference for that moniker.

Not all. I have a friend who happens to be female and despises that name "Pegasisters". Besides, "Brony" is often used for both male and female fans of the show who are perhaps not from it's target demographic.

Hey, I very much welcome and applaud your view on us bronies. Fighting through the bigot to vertically show there is nothing wrong with enjoying MLP. If you like it, you go watch it, and if you manage to do that, even though all social peer pressures say don't do it. Then I say the more power to you(or in this case, to us).

I respect and applaud CNN's neutral, and perhaps even slightly positive view on bronies.

You don't know how happy it makes me to see a news source not demonizing Bronies, I've heard the terms man-child, immature, deviant, and less favorable misnomers far too many times. Your news report was quite satisfying and I can't thank you enough for it.

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